


A Little Hug Never Hurt

by buzzbuzz34



Series: Azu Week 2020 [1]
Category: Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:55:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26818426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buzzbuzz34/pseuds/buzzbuzz34
Summary: Azu can't fix the world herself, but she can offer a comforting hand or a warm hug, and that makes everything a little better.
Relationships: Azu & Celiquilliton "Cel" Sidebottom, Azu & Sasha Racket, Azu & Zolf Smith, Grizzop drik Acht Amsterdam & Azu, Hamid Saleh Haroun al-Tahan & Azu
Series: Azu Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1956034
Comments: 18
Kudos: 23
Collections: Azu Week 2020





	A Little Hug Never Hurt

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Day 1 of Azu Week 2020!

Sasha’s face is set in a stony resolve, but her hands are still shaking as she stares at Barret, bound on the ground before her. Despite her insistence that she doesn’t care anymore, the trauma of everything he’d put her through shows in the trembling of her hands, a trembling so minute that it is barely noticeable. 

Azu notices. And when the others aren’t paying so much attention to them, she steps to Sasha’s side. She doesn’t need to ask if Sasha’s alright – of course she’s not. But she _can_ ask if there’s anything she can do in the moment to comfort her, and when Sasha falls against her and wraps her arms around her, Azu embraces her back. She holds Sasha tightly as she cries, her fists balled up around bits of Azu’s armor.

And then, as soon as the hug began, Sasha pulls away and wipes her tears. Azu gives her a smile and a nod, a silent promise that no one will know about the embrace or the crying, and Sasha walks away to spend some time alone to sort out her thoughts. 

But when she leaves, her hands are no longer shaking.

*

Azu doesn’t know the dwarf well. He’s stubborn and infuriating, but he’s Hamid’s friend and an ally in a time when allies are hard to come by.

He claims that he has loads of health, that he’s a beefy boy who can heal himself. He’s bleeding, though, with a bruise from a wound in the side of his head spiraling across his skull and mixing with the blood that coats his skin. 

She insists that she can heal him; he’s used enough of his spells and she can help, she can stop the bleeding and numb the pain. Still, Zolf protests, as seems to be his way. But stubbornness is no balm for the injuries afflicting him, so she reaches out toward him and places a hand on his shoulder. He complains, but as a pink light radiates from her touch and courses through him, mending his wounds, he falls silent. 

And instead of protesting or insisting that he could have done it himself, he offers up nothing more than a quiet thanks when the spell is concluded and Azu withdraws her hand. 

Azu doesn’t know Zolf well, but she’s pretty sure that stoic ‘thanks’ is as close to high praise she might ever receive from him.

*

Grizzop’s voice is practically gone from crying out Sasha’s name for so long. They’ve been looking for her all day in the streets, bars, and casinos of Cairo, but there is still be no sign of her. From the sound of it, that isn’t surprising; Sasha would only be found when she wanted to be found.

Still, Azu continues the hunt with Topaz T Camel beneath her and Grizzop on her shoulders, screeching Sasha’s name as loud as his little lungs would allow. 

After another failed rescue mission in yet another casino, Grizzop sighs and stands in place, the first sign of defeat or despair Azu has ever seen in him. His ears sag and his shoulders slump. Before he can voice his concerns, Azu is by his side and scooping him into her arms. 

He shrieks, but, as she lifts him into a quick embrace, he grows silent. She doesn’t hold him for long, since she knows he isn’t keen on such an action, but with a short hug, she places him back on her shoulders and climbs atop Topaz. 

Together, they continue the search for Sasha, with a little more hope in their hearts than before.

*

Azu is scared. They’re a mile in the sky and now there is a magical storm ahead of them that can cause strange and permanent effects. She understands the magic of her god, but this? She knows nothing of it, and it terrifies her.

However, Cel has a plan, and Cel is talented, smart, and capable in many ways that Azu cannot comprehend. Azu doesn’t know the first thing about the special box Cel and the kobolds are constructing to keep them safe from the Aurora Borealis, but she knows the tremor in Cel’s voice when they offer up reassuring words to the other crewmates. 

Though Azu can’t aid in engineering, she can notice that Cel is terrified too, their words flowing more rapidly and their hands flying wildly as they try to insist, yet again, that the box is safe. They’re attempting to reassure themselves more than anything, that much is obvious.

So Azu tugs them into an embrace and holds them tight until the trembling fades. Cel wraps their arms around Azu and they fall silent for the first time since working on this strange contraption. 

Maybe the box still won’t work, but both Cel and Azu are a little more confident now, a little more sure of their next steps, no matter what may come.

*

Holding Hamid in her arms feels as natural as anything at this point. Even with bars around them, some strange figure watching them from afar, and Hamid asleep, Azu pulls him into her embrace and holds him tight. She may not be able to get them out of this unknown quarantine, but she can protect him. 

She can hold him when he’s bleeding from a fight, shaking and scared, skin covered in the faintest trace of scales. The light of Aphrodite flows through her and into his flesh, knitting the wounds. Though Aphrodite’s touch does nothing for Hamid’s fear, Azu’s embrace helps to wipe it away. 

She can hold him when he’s drunk and exhausted from partying with goblins and orcs in the middle of Damascus. Azu scoops Hamid up into her arms to carry him away and back to their quest, and he nestles against her, still singing along to the music in the city as he dozes off.

She can hold him when they realize they’re all that’s left now. Sasha and Grizzop are gone. They have their blood relations, safe and sound, but there’s another part of their family that is missing in the void, and they have no way of knowing if they’re safe, no way of finding them and rescuing them. Azu holds Hamid tighter than ever before; she will not lose the rest of this family she’s made.

And as quarantine stretches on for a week, waiting in a dark, dingy cell, Azu holds Hamid again. They don’t know what’s happening or what comes next, but a little hug never hurt.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!! Check out azuweek.tumblr.com and this collection for more awesome Azu content this week!!!
> 
> Feel free to also check out kellanswritingblog.tumblr.com for more of my writing and information on my original characters, or stop by my personal, celsidebottom.tumblr.com <3


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